‘THE Government has announced it is scrapping parking charge guidance to local councils, which currently instructs them to put up parking charges to get people out of their cars and into public transport’.

After reading this statement in an online article recently I’m very interested to know if this will change the decision of Wyre Forest District Council to impose ridiculous increases in charges in our local car parks?

This is especially relevant to Vale Road car park in Stourport as it has changed from a full free car park to an empty pay and display one.

I can only assume that as no blame was put on Government guidelines for the Vale Road changes, that all the decisions made were by Wyre Forest District Council.

If this is indeed the case then maybe they can explain the “fair and consistent” phrase they use so often.

Since Vale Road has been changed it has been empty, apart from a few cars and no doubt all the shops and small businesses have been affected.

With shopping centres like Merry Hill offering free car parking, is it any wonder that it’s such a struggle for the hard-working shop owners in Stourport who are trying so desperately to compete?

If the district council want to be fair and consistent in their approach to any decisions they make regarding car parking fees in our local towns maybe they could reverse their bad decision and change Vale Road back to a free car park and also provide a free car park in both Bewdley and Kidderminster.

LISA COOPER Stourport